


someone you love

by unwieldyink



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: College AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27967139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwieldyink/pseuds/unwieldyink
Summary: Write about someone you love. (Free writing, min. 250 words)Will stared at the blinking cursor on his Google Doc, hovering in the white space below the one line of instruction. His mind seemed to have drawn a blank.Not that he lacked people to love. He loved plenty of people: his mom, his siblings, his dog. But what was he supposed to say about them?
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 16
Kudos: 87





	someone you love

_ Write about someone you love. (Free writing, min. 250 words) _

Will stared at the blinking cursor on his Google Doc, hovering in the white space below the one line of instruction. His mind seemed to have drawn a blank.

It wasn’t like he was a particularly good writer in the first place. He was a pre-med bio major, for goodness sakes. He wasn’t the most imaginative person, and even when he did come up with things, he found himself struggling to articulate them. Words just weren’t his forte. He preferred a mathematical equation or a bio worksheet to an essay any day. The only reason he was in this creative writing class was… well, the same reason everyone else was here. It was an easy class you could take to get your English credit without putting that much effort in.

So if this was supposed to be a blowoff class, why was he stumped? The room was silent except for the students around him clicking away at their keyboards. Still, Will hadn’t written a single word.

Not that he lacked people to love. He loved plenty of people: his mom, his siblings, his dog. But what was he supposed to say about them?

Will tipped his head back to the ceiling, blowing air through his cheeks. He always struggled with writing about his personal life the most. He recalled the last time he’d gone into office hours, hoping for help with a story assigned in class that was supposed to be about their greatest challenge. Just like now, Will had been stumped. He’d gone through stuff before, sure, but it’s not like he had anything important to say about them. They just happened.

_ Think about today _ , his professor had told him.  _ Last night, what did you dream about? This morning, what did you think about as you came to class? Think about how things in your past affected  _ today,  _ specifically. _

Will decided to try that piece of advice out once again. Who did he love today, specifically?

He sighed, but his fingers found the keyboard.

_ I love someone who doesn’t know me. I don’t know him either, not really. I don’t even know his name. But I see him every day on the bus. _

Will paused, considering if he really should be writing about a guy. But English teachers were always a little gay, right? And his professor had specified it didn’t have to be romantic love. It was fine.

Will continued.

_ He always has his earbuds in, and he always stares at his phone the whole time. The bus is always really quiet, though-- it’s just me and him so early in the morning. So I can hear his music through his earbuds anyways. Looking at him you’d expect it to be some emo screamo stuff, but it’s not… it’s some Owl City soundalike most of the time. I don’t know. _

_ He gets off a stop before me, right by the Arts Quad. I guess he’s got an English class in the morning. He’s already on the bus when I get on, so I don’t know what stop he gets on, but _

Will had no clue how to finish the sentence. What did he want to say about that?

Whatever. He’d go back and fix it later. He hit the enter key twice and continued.

_ He’s taken calls on the bus a couple of times. He talks really quietly. I don’t know if that’s his normal voice or if he’s just trying to be polite in public, but it suits him. A few days ago, he was talking to his sister (I think). They were talking about Christmas. Apparently he was drawing everyone in his friend group from high school, but wanted his sister’s opinion on which picture he should use as a reference for everyone. She said it was super sweet of him to put that much effort into a Christmas present when he knew he was probably going to get, like, socks in return. I agree. It is sweet. _

_ One time it was raining and I had rushed out of the house too fast to grab my umbrella. I was soaked by the time I got to the bus stop. The ride was silent, but when we got to his stop, he left his umbrella by accident. I tried to call to him to give it back, but he was already gone. So I carried it with me all day-- it came in handy when the rain didn’t stop, since I have classes scattered throughout the whole campus. The next morning, I made sure to bring it with me and give it back. I told him, “You forgot this yesterday.” And he said: “I didn’t forget.” And he smiled at me. I’d never seen him smile before. It made him look really nice. _

_ I fall in love with strangers a lot. I’m never on my phone on the bus, because I’m always looking out the window. I like to watch people walk and wonder what they’re up to. It’s always nice when you see someone you don’t know do something kind for no reason. Like giving someone their umbrella. _

_ This guy is a stranger. I don’t know him at all. And yet I do, now. I know he’s probably an arts major (or at least he likes to draw), he has a sister, he remembers his umbrella when it rains. He’s sweet. He has a nice smile. He’s kind to strangers. _

_ I wonder how he would react if I asked his name tomorro _

“Alright!” Will’s professor stood up, interrupting him mid-word. “That’s been twenty minutes. I hope you all got some good writing done.”

Will turned around to check the clock, and blinked as he discovered the girl sitting behind him smiling. He turned back to his laptop, quickly clicking to another tab as heat crawled up the back of his neck. Whether she was smiling at him or not, he didn’t know, but the idea of someone reading what he just wrote made him want to crawl under his desk and hide.

The professor, oblivious to Will’s plight, continued. “Our whole next unit is about love-- romantic, platonic, familial. So I hope you all keep your free writings in mind. Maybe you can connect some of the things we read to your own life.”

Will rubbed a hand across his forehead, and let his professor’s words drift idly across his ears as she clicked to the next powerpoint slide.

He thought about what to say the next day on the bus.


End file.
